Clontarf Foundation Northern NSW regional manager Brenden Petterson described last week’s Clontarf Rugby League Carnival as “sensational” but it was the work put in prior to the event that really had Petterson smiling.
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Carnivals and camps are used as an incentive to engage students in their education through setting attendance, behaviour and assessment or classroom expectations.
Students had to meet these targets to compete at the carnival and helping the children achieve that is what Clontarf is all about, Petterson said.
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“The carnivals, the camps – they’re the carrot. The focus is on educational outcomes,” Petterson said of the Clontarf Foundation.
“All of those boys that attended would have met individual attendance targets, some behaviour targets and assessment targets.”
The Clontarf program has five pillars – education, wellbeing, leadership, employment and sport. All Clontarf-related activities will link back to learning and development in these areas.
A carnival like the rugby league one in Tamworth is a strategy utilised to develop students’ life skills, teamwork, communication and leadership skills to name a few.
“About 130 students” from nine academies competed at the carnival in Tamworth.
Preliminary games were played at Farrer on Thursday before Melville Academy, from Kempsey, and Tamworth’s Oxley Academy met in the final at Scully Park which ended in a draw.
Petterson said the students were “blown away” by the facilities at Scully Park and the kids were already talking about next year’s carnival.
While in Tamworth for the carnival, the students also participated in, amongst other things, an NRL education session on resilience.
